(this moment) & keeping it real

A Friday ritual. A single few photos - no a few words - capturing a moment from the week. 

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you're inspired to do the same, link your 'moment' in the comments for all to find & see.

We celebrated Avi's 2nd Birthday this week. It wasn't until a few days after his birthday that I realized I only put one candle in his (gluten free, sugar free) blueberry cupcake (recipe to come). We lit it twice -- maybe that counts. wink! Thank you lisa for taking these great photos. 

Inspired by Soulemama

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This week, I'm also joining monica with:

Keeping it Real #7

blah:

arriving home from our Hawaii trip to Colorado on fire

feeling the urge to move (near water) but not knowing where

flying red eye - never again!

leaky sprinklers leaving a pond under chicken coop - ugh the flies

feeling distant from my evacuated family

witnessing my wife's high stress work environment leave her exhausted physically, emotionally, spiritually 

yay:

celebrating Avi's 2nd birthday

rain

reminiscing about our family trip

sprinkler guy to the rescue!

Avi's love of music - he listens to a song and start singing with it immediately

seeing the hard boiled egg pan on the stove every morning - everyone's eating breakfast again

when we make the tired, frustrated, grumpy trade off in the game of tag-team-bed-time-ritual-for-the-little-bird-who-won't-sleep ... knowing that "love will not elude us"

nine treasures

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."

Thornton Wilder

This week's treasures are from our trip to O'ahu:

devastation in Colorado - UPDATED 7/9/12

I have so much to blog about. Happy wonderful things. Birthdays, family vacations, Avi singing, laughter, friends, chickens, our growing garden, babies being born... but I cannot bring myself to blog about such wonders when our state is on fire.

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Here is a small taste of what's been going on here in Colorado. What is listed does not even include the fires burning on the western slope in the four corners and Durango area. But it does include the fire that broke out Tuesday afternoon, right here in Boulder. Avi woke from his nap. We snuggled into the rocking chair, as we usually do, to read a few books. We heard the rain and looked out the window. A few scary (to Avi) thunder bangs, lightening strikes, only two minutes of rain and suddenly I could see the smoke starting to rise above the Flat Irons. Soon helicopters overhead confirmed the worst. It's unnerving that I don't even have to listen to the news to know that another wildfire has started. Meanwhile, my family (sister, brother-in-law, three nephews, and my mom), just west of the Waldo Canyon Fire, have all been evacuated.


Flagstaff Fire: 228 300 Acres. 2400 pre-evacuations in Boulder, CO. 100% contained nine days after it started. No structures threatened. 

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High Park Fire: Near Ft. Collins: 87,284 acres, 259 homes destroyed, 55% 100% contained as of 7/1/12.

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Springer Fire: near Lake George, CO. 1,145 Acres, 100% contained 6/23/12. 

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Waldo Canyon Fire: Near Colorado Springs, 5168 18,247 acres. 32,000 people evacuated.  347 homes destroyed. 2 deaths. 5% 98% contained as of 7/7/12. 

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 People keep praying for rain.... but they forget that the rain we get is so minimal and it comes with the dangerous lightening often making things worse. If you pray... pray for rain without lightening, pray for the firefighters, pray for those displaced - humans, pets, livestock, wild animals, and pray for those who won't have a home to return to. If you want to help, consider these:

• Donate online with Salvation Army at https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/intermountain/EDS where 100 percent of your disaster donations go to fire relief efforts. Also, the kettles are out in Denver and elsewhere, ready to take your immediate contribution.

• Customers of Verizon Wireless can text REDCROSS to 90999 to make $10 donations to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for evacuees and those affected by the High Park, Waldo Canyon and other fires in Colorado. Text-messaging fees waived, and 100 percent of each donation goes to the Red Cross.

• Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado has launched the Colorado Fire Relief Fund to help victims, firefighters and other first responders. Contributions can be made (100 percent donated) by visiting http://www.jewishcolorado.org/ or http://jewi.sh/cofires. In addition, checks with the notation "Colorado Fire Relief Fund" can be mailed to Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado, 300 S. Dahlia, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80246. (source)

then.and.now: birthday

number.six 

 But what minutes!  Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day.                                                                                                          ~Benjamin Disraeli

Two years ago today, our bird's first moments in this world.

Our family today!
 

Happy 2nd Birthday Avi Bird!!! We Love You.

A Little Vacation

I will be away from here for a while enjoying a little family vacation at the beach.

Have a great week everyone!

then.and.now: swings

number.five 

 But what minutes!  Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day.                                                                                                          ~Benjamin Disraeli

Inviting you to link up with your own "then and now" 

(this moment) & Keeping it Real

A Friday ritual. A single photos - no a few words - capturing a moment from the week. 

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you're inspired to do the same, link your 'moment' in the comments for all to find & see.

"Avi make star. Do it myself"

Inspired by Soulemama

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This week, I'm also joining monica with:

Keeping it Real #6

blah:

 High Park fire :: 46,820 acres, 118 structures burned, 31 homes destroyed, only 10-15% contained.

Missing bootcamp one day this week :: feeling the grumpy effects of it.

Late nights and early mornings :: nobody's fault but my own.

Anxiety about upcoming 8 hour flight with almost 2 year old.

Missing a friend's birthday. 

yay:

Leaving Sunday for a week in Hawaii.

Healthy family, healthy chickens, healthy garden.

Avi singing in the car 

Dinner with friends.

Avi talking about his friends: "Play trains with Ella, share", "Zinnia coming over, play together", "[go] Carter's house", "Amina, Kiren, sleeping at home". 

A sweet moment before dinner to connect, say hello and welcome home to my wife who had been home for over an hour. (Accepting the chaos of life with kiddos).

Rain!!! Rain to help the 1,300 firefighters working so hard. Rain! Rain! Rain!

nine things...

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.  ~Thornton Wilder

This (and part of last) week's treasures include:

Special Delivery!!  (Thanks Reji for making Avi's life so lovely!)

Rocks and Water are no match for this one on his bike!

 This habitat, so close to our home, a place to come, pause, notice.

Thinning in the garden makes for yummy sprouts at dinner.  

Aimee and j/j. (And discovering Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Cafe - And discovering that we actually know the people who run this amazing place). 

"Water. Touch it".

Anne U. White trail. 

Aimee and Avi and the bird book. (We were blessed to have you here! Thank you for inspiring the writer in me.)

Seeing our seedlings growing up - modest, but there nonetheless! (and discovering that weeding is even harder when Avi "fed" the garden chicken scratch which is sprouting everywhere).

then.and.now : friends

number.four 

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." - Anas Nin

March 2011

June 2012

This has become my Monday ritual. Inviting you to link up with your own then.and.now.

(this moment) & Keeping it Real

A Friday ritual. A single photos - no words - capturing a moment from the week. 

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you're inspired to do the same, link your 'moment' in the comments for all to find & see.

Inspired by Soulemama

**********************************************************************************************************

This week, I'm also joining monica with:

Keeping it Real #5

blah:

Tossing $16 fish because our plans changed and I didn't get it cooked in time.

Feeling overwhelmed by plastic (post coming soon).

Ruffled feathers among friends.

Being reminded in therapy that I have to take 100% responsibility for myself. (yes.)

The cost of organized exercise.

Eating chocolate for lunch too often.

yay:

Our friend and amazing writer and poet, Aimee Herman, visiting to promote her new book.

Weeding and mulch - check.

6:00am boot camp - still at it. (Thanks babe for changing your schedule so I can do this!)

Being reminded in therapy that I have to take 100% responsibility for myself. (yes.)

Feeling inspired to write.

Avi in the garden: "plants growing right up"

A date with my wife.

almost two

"Bike", Avi says when we head out the front door. "Helmet, help you", he says bringing me his helmet wanting help putting it on. I am loving Avi's confidence on his strider. And how well he sleeps after riding for a bit in the afternoon. But this past week, I noticed that Avi had more confidence in himself than I had in him. In this parenting moment I had to step back and let him do what he was ready to do even though I wasn't. I dropped what I was carrying and in the less than 60 seconds I bent down to pick it up, calling to Avi to get off his bike and wait for Ema, he was on the bridge maneuvering the turns. It's really shallow water, I thought and let him continue. He's "almost two" and this experience was a good reminder to step back and little and let "Avi do it myself" a little more often.